The Pieces of the Puzzle
by Blue Eyes At Night
Summary: One-shot. Just an oddly-organized look into Singe's creation and all the memories of Sonja and Lucian's past that led to the Corvinus theory. Review!


He prowled about the streets for centuries, hunting for a prey he could not reach for…not yet. Searching for an answer he feared he would never have, plagued by demons he would not vanish if he could.

_Sonja_. He could almost feel her in those visions, feel the silky skin beneath his own, hear that musical voice. Smell the charred bones that remained amongst the ashes.

_I love you_,_ my princess, my sun and moon…_dear gods the sun! It was so bright it was all over her. Cover her, try to cover her…..the chains are too tight. _Why won't they break?_ _Sonja!!_

He woke with a cold sweat on his face, his limbs shaking and his breathing ragged. Tears stained his cheeks and he batted at them, none of that now. His tears for her had been shed years ago and he refused to be weak again, he refused to stop until she was avenged.

Lucian sat up in bad and growled at the knock that came to his door, "What is it?"

Raze entered the room and Lucian's nerves eased a little, Raze had been there with him, in the same dank cellar where Sonja was murdered. Raze had seen him pursue her, follow her footsteps into shadows where they stole precious seconds, Raze had come to take him from Sonja's bed before the Death Dealers came to wake her. Raze had seen the years that had fallen on Lucian's face, had seen the drastic, tragic change in him.

The eyes that had once been so hopeful, the eyes that had once sparkled in adoration, _They may yet accept us, my love. If not now, perhaps in centuries to come they will see the folly in trying to put boundaries on love. If they shan't accept us, we can leave. Start our own pack, our own coven. It will be as nothing the world has seen! My princess we shall take them all by storm!_

Those eyes were dead now, the only life that every sputtered in them died in the same syllable it was breathed in, _Sonja._ The name still moved him, but nothing else would. He was truly as dead as she, perhaps more so that he had the misfortune to continue living.

"What is it Raze?"

Raze handed him a newspaper, hot from the press still, on the front cover was an article that Lucian scanned. Then he stood, "At last."

There were still questions in his head, questions that needed answering. Questions he could not answer for himself. But a scientist could, one of these modern men who could read the secrets held within veins and flesh. Singe…. He was dying. A scientific genius was to be robbed from the world. There was no cure for his disease.

Lucian ran his tongue over his sharp canines, _There is no cure, merely the choice. Live and die or die to live. I think, perchance, it is time to christen a new pack-mate. _

Blurry, everything was blurry. Singe tried to open his eyes but his head spun with wild pictures.

_There was a beautiful woman with green eyes that gripped at him, startled him in a delicious way. She had dark hair, a fair complexion and the most stunning features he'd ever seen. Her perfection was…inhuman. She smiled and there were two teeth that were longer, sharper. She laughed and he forgot about her teeth he was lost in the soft sensuous voice,_

"_Lucian! I thought that you would be thrown from the walls onto silver spikes! My father is not what one would call….forgiving."_

_He spoke, _that wasn't his voice, _"My lady," His excitement at her reaction was poorly contained, "He would have to do far worse then that to keep me from you."_

"_You are more persistent then my other suitors. You….you intrigue me very much." She reached out a hand to touch his cheek; his whole body was shaking with a mixture of nerves and pure, hot desire._

_Her skin was cold against his and she pulled away, "You're warm!"_

_Emerald green eyes were alight with curiosity, and she reached forth again, stepping closer and running her hands over the scruff of his beard and the pores on his skin, two fingers stopped at the vein on his throat, "You have a pulse!"_

_She sat down on an elegant footstool and looked at him in amazement, "Are all lycans as you are? They are warm? Hairy? They have pulses?"_

"_My lady we've more then just pulses…we have hearts as well." _

_She knew so little about them, so very little. Her father taught her nothing about them spare that they were dogs, mutts, pointless, almost useless. Boldly, Lucian, _that wasn't his name, _reached forward and gently cupped her cheek, and brushed a finger over her cool skin, staring at her reverently. "There is nothing in this world more beautiful then you."_

_Sonja put one of her hands over his and leaned into his palm, "You flatter me."_

"_I adore you." Before he lost the nerve he had found to utter those syllables, he leaned forward and caught her lips._

_After a moment they broke apart and she looked over her shoulder worriedly, "If they caught us…"_

"_If they caught me they'd kill me." Both of his hands cupped her face, "And I would gladly die for this crime."_

_She choked on a sob, "You cannot die now, Lucian. I will not allow our first kiss to be our last."_

_And Sonja seized his mouth in a heated kiss…_

Singe groaned as he woke, he had never had a dream like that.

"What….what has happened?" The words barely came out of his dry, cracked lips.

"Relax." The voice that spoke was deep and strong…and familiar. It had been the voice he spoke with in the dream. A figure emerged from the shadows beside Singe's bed, "Don't be alarmed."

"What's going on? Who are you?" Singe was becoming more alarmed by the second and he was finding it very hard to relax, "How did I get here?"

"I brought you here." The man's features were more clear now, his dark hair was pulled back from his face and his eyes looked glassy, half-alive if not near dead.

"Why?"

The man smiled, a grim thing, though it gave his face a morbid handsomeness, at some point in time this man must have been quite good looking though there were only vestiges of that past self left, "To answer questions I've been harboring for quite some time."

"And who are you?!" Singe tried to get up but was pinned down by his host.

"I am Lucian, the Lycan Master." The black eyes turned completely blue even the whites of them were blue and his teeth grew long, his voice a glorified bark, "Your immortal father as it were."

Lucian shook his head and his normal features returned, Singe cowered in the bed, frightened but something else…intrigued.

"Did you sleep well, Singe?" Lucian's eyes were completely focused on the man, "Dream well?"

Singe eyed him warily but did not respond, so Lucian pushed on, "Perhaps you saw a beautiful woman, so ravishingly radiant you doubted she was real? Maybe you saw this maid with eyes like jewels and skin like marble?"

The scientist's eyes widened with recognition, _How does he know…?_

Lucian smiled, "Ah, you did. Good. That should make this easier."

He sat on the bed next to the man and looked at his changeling curiously. He was in the habit of studying those he changed, seeing how the new blood, the new life, affected them. Singe did not seemed concerned with the pain in his guts nor the pounding in his head, he studied Lucian right back, alert and aware and hungry for information. Still wary, still afraid.

But listening.

"Who was she?"

"Sonja," He let the name out like a prayer and paused reverently as it sat on the air, "She was my wife, in a manner of speaking. She was a vampire."

"Vampire? Vampires aren't real." Singe argued.

"They are as real as us."

"Us?" The fear dominant in Singe's voice.

"Lycans." Lucian studied Singe's reaction intently, "Werewolves."

Singe's eyes widened but remembering what Lucian had done earlier, the eyes, the teeth, he did not argue again. "And vampires are…friends?"

"No!" The word was like a curse, "Vampires are the most deadly enemy you have! Learn that well."

"Enemies? And your wife was one?"

Lucian gave a faint smile, "She was unlike the others, more pure….I loved her. I love her still."

His tone was dark, morbid and Singe ventured a guess, "She's…dead?"

"Murdered. By her own father, a vampire elder."

"But why?"

"For loving me…." Memories danced behind Lucian's eyes, "She was carrying my child at the time. I used to think she was murdered in spite of it but I have had long to dwell on it….I think….I think she was murdered _because_ of it."

This stunned the listener, "But….but why?"

"That, my friend, is why you're here."

"_Lucian! Lucian!!" Sonja called, a smile taking over her face._

_Worriedly he rushed to her, "What? What is it? What's wrong?"_

_He had been dreading this, a lycan maid had come to find him during the daylight, had told him that Sonja wanted him there immediately. Ever since she had told him that she was pregnant he had been worried. Worried that one day would find him far from her when she needed him most. And so he abandoned his post without a second thought and rushed to Sonja's chambers, nearly getting caught in the process. He expected…he didn't know what he expected but certainly not the joyful atmosphere. Let it not be thought that he wasn't greatly relieved to have been wrong about her circumstances. _

_She let an angelic laugh loose and kissed him, "You worry too much, beloved."_

_Lucian's muscles relaxed and he held Sonja loosely in his arms, "Then what is it?"_

_Sonja took his hand and placed it over her swollen stomach, "Do you feel it?"_

"_Feel what?" _

_She took his other hand and placed it on her cheek, "Do you feel the difference?"_

_Lucian's brows knitted together, her cheek was cold, like all of her skin, "Sonja what…?"_

_She placed her hand over his on her womb, her cool skin lying over his warm fingers, the skin beneath them…dear gods! Lucian pulled his hand away in shock, "It's warm!"_

_An ecstatic smile and laugh echoed in the room, "Yes! Yes! Warm!"_

_She threw herself into his embrace, and he covered her face with joyful kisses, "Oh, Lucian, I never thought I'd be warm! This child is like a ray of harmless sunlight on me! I never thought… and there's more!"_

_He stopped his ministrations and looked at her, "More?"_

_She nodded excitedly, "Much more!"_

_Again placing his hand over their growing child she paused for a moment, searching for something, then pressed two of his fingers to a little spot low on the swell. A pulse point. _

"_Do you feel it?" Sonja's voice was barely a whisper but Lucian didn't answer her; the look of pure awe written on his face was enough, his gaping mouth and his eyes glittering with love._

_He had no other reaction but speechlessness. She stroked his cheek and nodded as he stared at her belly in awe, "I was so pleased, I couldn't help but summon you. I hope you're not angry with me?"_

"_Never, dear gods, never!" Their lips met passionately, _How could she think I'd be angry with her?, _Lucian held her fast to him. No he wasn't angry with her but she'd given him quite the fright; though he was pleased with what he'd learned he fully intended to wreak a delicious revenge upon her for half-killing him with dread. Soft groans escaped her, spending violent shivers up his spine, and he knew that his revenge would not be ending soon…_

_Then she pushed him away, he broke the kiss and looked at her oddly. She returned his puzzlement, "Why did you pull away?"_

"_You pushed me…" Sonja quirked a brow, not letting him finish, "You did not push me?"_

"_No…" Her face lit up but he was no more enlightened then a moment before. He was trying to figure out precisely what had happened when Sonja yelped. _

"_What is it?" He focused his eyes on her and she exclaimed, "It's kicking! Lucian, it's kicking!"_

"_What!" Lucian covered her stomach with his hands not wanting to miss this sign of life. Sure enough before a minute had passed there was a push against his hands. He sank to his knees, pressing his cheek against the movement and kissing it. Sonja sank down next to him, tears coming down her face, "Oh Lucian! Lucian! We don't have to fear anymore! It's alive, it's well!"_

_He kissed her, overwhelmed with happiness. They had shared the same fear. Vampires and lycans could not mix blood through bites without death, what if the mixing of blood without fangs had the same effect? This had been the first true signs of life from the babe, as if it had chosen now to reveal its presence. It chose an admirable time, because it was growing large indeed within it's mother. Large enough to be noticed soon._

_Sonja seemed to read his mind, "Soon it shall be time to reveal our little secret. Soon I shall not be able to hide my condition with bigger gowns and a larger appetite. Soon, very soon, we shall be able to tell the world, for good or ill! And if they shun us or not it no longer matters! Our child lives, it lives! And that is all that matters now… our family."_

"_Yes, our family…" A wide smile broke out on Lucian's face and he leaned in to catch another kiss when a knock broke the moment. They both stared at the door, both had that initial pang of fear of discovery but the scent outside the wood was distinctly lycan, and more over it was distinctly Raze._

"_Lucian, the Death Dealers will be rising soon, you should return."_

_Suppressing a frustrated howl Lucian reluctantly got up, helped Sonja up and into bed, and left for his post. _Soon_ he thought_ soon I shall not fear them knowing I am with her. Soon.

"But not soon enough, I suppose?" Singe muttered to himself as he woke, the dreams, the memories of Lucian and Sonja were a lot for his mind to accept, but Lucian had left him be, telling him nothing more then he had and letting the past speak for him. Singe had, in the past few days, accepted a few simple facts. That he was a lycan, that Lucian was the pack-leader, and that though he was brought here expressly to help Lucian, the older lycan would not utter a spoken word about his deceased mate voluntarily and seemed to have used up his speech on her the night he made Singe.

Singe was not one to hunt; he was a scientist not a soldier! So he took the blood left in a corpse lying about the den and returned to bed, knowing his assignment was to learn all that he could about Lucian's past so he could answer the lycans questions. Some may think it terribly arrogant of Lucian to simply command Singe to fix his problems, but Singe was terribly grateful for being spared from death and would gladly tinker away at this problem that could take hundreds of years to solve.

There were some things he noticed about this dream immediately, that Sonja's stomach was not swollen as it had been in the last one, but flat, and Singe assumed this was before her pregnancy. He was agitated that the memories couldn't come in chronological order, but he would organize them all later.

_Sonja was looking out the window at the gardens. Bathed in the light of the half-full moon all the flowers looked like dark jewels to decorate a grave with. Lucian came up behind her and wrapped his arms about her, kissing her temple and following her gaze._

_Sighing sadly she rested her head against his, "I always wished I could see the flowers by day. Everything must be so different bathed in the sunlight."_

_"Some things are far more beautiful bathed in the moonlight." Lucian shifted so that he was in front of her, "Like you."_

_He leaned in and stole a quick kiss from her, she pulled away and scanned the area around them and below them, "If we are going to continue this is must occur inside, we can be seen too easily out here."_

_"As my lady wishes." A wolfish smile lit Lucian's face as Sonja locked the windows and fell right into Lucian's arms, "I am pleased you came, I have news for you!"_

_"What is it?" Her tone made his brow furrow, was that a tinge of sorrow?_

_Sonja wrapped her arms around his neck and let their foreheads touch, so that as she spoke her lips were just barely touching his, "This is something I never thought possible…"_

_He pressed a kiss to her lips, a soft one, reassuring. No matter how terrible it was, he'd not leave her._

_"I…I'm," Sonja took a deep breath and shut her eyes, "I'm with child."_

_There was a loud silence in the air, Lucian took a step back from her and took in what she had just said. With child? With his child?_

_Tears welled up in her eyes, and as they fell he wiped them away, shushing her._

_She asked what he thought of it. He led her to the bed and sat her on it, holding one of her hands in his own, his other hand on her cheek._

_"Sonja, you could scarcely have said something to make me happier. Lycans mate for life, and there is little in this world that can compare to our having a child…but why are you so distraught? This is a time for joy, beloved, why are you so sad?"_

_"I'm so frightened, Lucian. So terribly frightened. Vampires and lycans…there is no record of the survival any kind of mixed blood. I'm so frightened something will go wrong, so frightened to love this babe and have it die. So frightened to lose it."_

_Lucian threw both his arms around her, clasping her tightly to him and stroking her hair, "Oh Sonja…before us there was never a record of vampires and lycans doing anything together except trying to kill one another. We've proven once that the species can mix… it is time, perhaps, to prove it again."_

_"But what if…"_

_"Shhh… do not think on it. Do not dwell on it just as we don't dwell on what could happen with one bite that breaks the skin. These are the dangers in our affair, we have to accept them."_

_"What if it dies Lucian? What if we can never have a child? What if that is a curse upon our union? I know how desperately you wanted a family, as desperately as I did."_

_"It is _you_ that I want, Sonja. You that I need. Children are a marvelous dream, but I could not bear to lose you. I'd give up all hopes of children to stay by your side."_

_It took him hours to sooth away all her fears and worries, not all of which revolved around carrying a mysterious half-breed, a species of being unknown to the world in her womb, but also the normal fears of a first time mother that as a first time father he could little to comfort besides confess he had the same fears. The sun would rise within the hour as they lay in bed, holding each other and Sonja beginning to fall asleep from the effort of so much crying. Lucian was about to leave when she woke and looked into his eyes, and gave a bark of laughter most unlike her normal melodious laugh._

_"And what, may I ask, is so funny?"_

_"Do you realize who my father is?" There was a tired, amused smile on Sonja's face._

_Lucian shivered as he thought of Viktor and his cold, cruel eyes. A shot of worry shot through him, what would Viktor do when he found out? Suddenly feeling powerful, protective Lucian vowed he would die protecting his mate and their unborn child. _

_"Lucian?" Sonja had noticed his change of mood._

_"What of Viktor?"_

_"One day our son or daughter shall take his place on the Council of Elders."_

_Humor lighted in Lucian's grey eyes, Viktor who loathed lycans as mutts and underdeveloped beasts of burden, Viktor would have a half-lycan pup for his grandchild and heir. "How are you so sure he would not disinherit it?"_

_"Our child will be of Corvinus' line! Even my father cannot brag of that! The only one that could disinherit the child for blood is Marcus, the closest living heir to Corvinus."_

_"You're related to Marcus? I never knew."_

_"Lucian, Marcus will be our child's great-uncle."_

_"How?" He had never realized that his mate was of such potent blood, such ancient lines. He truly wasn't worthy of this woman, and he thanked the gods that she was willing to accept a mutt such as himself._

_"Marcus was my mother's brother. Viktor married well, and cemented to ties to the Corvinus clan. The oldest blood of our race if in my veins…in our babe's veins as well. Your child is already more noble by blood then most living vampires."_

_His child, with the blood to rule vampires, "You forget one thing in your fantasies of our son ruling in Viktor's place. The vampires will never put a child fathered by a common dog on their throne."_

_Sonja snuggled into him, "Then one day, we shall create our own throne for him to sit upon."_

Singe woke with a puzzled expression on his face, _Corvinus_. That blood, that name. Something struck a chord within him when Sonja had spoken it, it seemed that he could hear her now from beyond the grave bidding him remember the name. _Corvinus_. It sounded very important.


End file.
